Islamic Jihad In Beirut Kidnaps 4 Frenchmen

March 10, 1986|By Liz Sly, Special to The Tribune. B

EIRUT — Islamic Jihad on Sunday claimed the abduction of four more French nationals in West Beirut, as French envoys converged on the Middle East in an effort to defuse the crisis facing the French hostages in Lebanon.

The four, a camera crew for French television`s Antenne 2 network, were seized at gunpoint Saturday evening as they returned from filming a rally held by the extremist Hezbollah (Party of God), according to their driver, who was later released.

The crew`s presence in Beirut`s Shiite Moslem-controlled southern suburbs had been strongly criticized by police in Beirut, even though the spot where they were seized lies on the main route to Beirut International Airport.

An anonymous caller speaking in the name of Islamic Jihad told Western news agencies Sunday that the four were ``arrested to investigate their suspicious activities in the Islamic suburbs.`` They were identified as Phillipe Rochot, Georges Hansen, Aurel Cornea and Jean-Louis Normandin.

Their abduction brings the number of Frenchmen held in Lebanon to 8 and the number of foreigners to 17, including 6 Americans. The Americans are Rev. Lawrence Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest from Joliet, Ill.; journalist Terry Anderson; university professor Thomas Sutherland; hospital director David Jacobson; diplomat William Buckley, and librarian Peter Kilburn.

The caller gave the French government ``one week to recover our two Iraqi comrades from the cellars of the Iraqi regime,`` but he made no specific threat. Last week, an anonymous caller said the group may ``execute`` one of the Frenchmen kidnaped earlier.

Sunday`s caller was referring to two pro-Iranian Iraqi dissidents deported to Iraq by France last month after being implicated in a series of bombing attacks in Paris. The action precipitated the latest crisis facing the French hostages.

Amnesty International said it had unconfirmed reports that one of the two Iraqis was executed immediately upon his return to Baghdad. The French ambassador to Baghdad is being denied permission to visit the men.

French government envoy Serge Boidevaux arrived in Beirut on Sunday and began ``contacting officials,`` a French Embassy spokesman said. Dr. Razah Raad, a French doctor of Lebanese Shiite origin, headed for Damascus, Syria, to join Henri Servant, France`s roving ambassador, for urgent talks with Syrian officials.

Islamic Jihad insisted it will accept no other envoy than Raad, who has mediated in hostage affairs on previous occasions.

The difficulty is that no one knows who belongs to Islamic Jihad. The group also claims to be holding the six Americans, but Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite, who met with the kidnapers of the Americans in December, said the French and the Americans are not being detained by the same people.

There is strong evidence linking the kidnapers of the French with Hezbollah, a secretive organization with no formal structure or leadership. It is armed and financed by Iran and operates an underground, cellular system.